The decline of the staple industries was a very significant development in people’s lives. Before the decline of the staple industries, Britain was known as the “workshop of the world” this was due to the fact that Britain producing 2/3 of the worlds coal, 50% of the worlds iron and 5/7 of all the worlds’ metal. This all changed when countries like Germany and the US used cheaper methods of extracting and producing these resources that Britain’s buyers looked else wear, the decline of these main industries caused a wave of job losses and other main industries to suffer. Britain lost its place as the most powerful empire; there were many reasons for this. Britain didn’t have the necessary raw materials needed for industrialisation; Britain’s farming industry couldn’t produce enough food to feed the growing population. The Liberal reforms were very significant in people’s lives. There were many reasons for why the liberals decided to reform Britain and these issues are highlighted in Booth and Rowntrees reports about people living below the poverty line. These reports tell us that if someone lost their job before the reforms they had to rely on their savings, family and friends, and the pawn brokers or depend on the poor laws which were the only sort of social protection they had. The government hardly ever stepped in to help people, the conservative government and member of the House of Lords all believed that if a person was poor that meant they were lazy; these reports discovered that that wasn’t the case and that in fact the majority of the poorest in society were born there. Some shocking statistics had shown that 11% of primary school children were malnourished and in 1900 the height for enlisting was reduced to 5 feet and even 50% who enlisted were in too ill health.
There was a major need to reform, because